Philadelphia, March20, 2014 – Mayor Michael A. Nutter and SevOne officially opened the company’s new Philadelphia office at the Land Title Building. Headquartered in Wilmington, Delaware, with 270 total employees, SevOne opened an office in Philadelphia in March 2013 with just 12 software developers. With 30 employees currently and plans to employ 50 in Philadelphia by the end of the year, the company has quickly outgrown its first office. Mayor Nutter also announced the winners of the second Startup PHL Call for Ideas awards to support entrepreneurs and improve student engagement with Philadelphia’s tech community.

“SevOne’s Philadelphia presence is further evidence that our City has the talent that growing companies need for success. Philadelphia continues to develop into one of America’s most diverse, dynamic and exciting places to build a technology company,” said Mayor Nutter. “Initiatives like the Startup PHL Call for Ideas, which fosters talent and better connects that talent to thriving companies like SevOne, demonstrate our support for entrepreneurs every step of the way.”

SevOne provides some of the world’s largest companies, including Comcast, Verizon, and Morgan Stanley, a patented performance monitoring, management, and reporting platform to detect and avoid poor network performance. Founded in 2005 and headquartered in Wilmington, Delaware, Forbes Magazine named SevOne one of America’s Most Promising Companies. In 2013, the company announced a $150 million dollar investment from Bain Capital.

“As a result of SevOne’s accelerated growth, which saw headcount double to 270 employees in the past year alone, it was imperative that we open a larger office in Philadelphia to meet our constantly evolving needs,” explained Jack Sweeney, CEO of SevOne. “We couldn’t be more pleased to remain here in Philadelphia, a vibrant, first-rate city with a motivated and technology-savvy workforce.”

Mayor Nutter also announced the second Startup PHL Call for Idea award winners. The Startup PHL Call for Ideas is a program that provides grants for projects that support entrepreneurs and improves Philadelphia’s startup ecosystem. This second Call for Ideas focuses on student engagement with Philadelphia’s tech community.

2014 Call for Ideas Grant Awards:

PennApps Fellows Internship Program – $25,000 to fund 10 internships in a local program connecting student interns from across the nation to Philadelphia based companies for a 10-week internship during the summer 2014.

Philadelphia Fashion Incubator – $25,000 to create a series of monthly seminars, panels and interactive workshops focused on the business of fashion for the design community.

NextFab Fellows Coop Program – $25,000 to support four co-op fellowships. Students will receive training and materials while gaining experience working with NextFab companies who struggle to find talent.

Technical.ly / Philly Startup Leaders – $25,000 to create and execute a series of eight workshops to better connect the PHL tech community to students and universities.

Mayor Nutter also thanked the following people for their support and assistance: M. Therese Flaherty (Wharton Small Business Development Center), Apu Gupta (Curalate), Wil Reynolds and Crystal O’Neill (Seer Interactive), Steve Goodman (Morgan Lewis), and Richard Vague (Gabriel Investments).

“Companies continually tell us that a talented workforce is one of the most important factors to their growth,” said Alan Greenberger, Deputy Mayor for Economic Development. “Connecting Philadelphia’s world-class universities and students to our burgeoning tech community is a necessary component to not only retain students past graduation, but to also maintain the momentum we see with companies like SevOne expanding in Philadelphia.”

2013 Call for Ideas Grantee Update:

Ben Franklin Technology Partners/Campus Philly received $25,000 to create a Targeted Internship Matching Program and placed 10 Philadelphia-area university students at BFTP portfolio companies in Philadelphia in the summer of 2013. One student, Adam Fender, continues to work with his placement company, Agile Switch. “I’ve learned a ridiculous amount in the last 7 months and I have really enjoyed the work. It is also very clear to me that I do not want to leave Philadelphia after graduation. I know that was something that this program hoped to accomplish and it certainly has done that,” said Fender.

Greater Philadelphia Chamber of Commerce received $18,400 to develop an online Entrepreneur’s Resource Directory. The directory provides a centralized online resource for entrepreneurs to find information on funding sources, professional and technical expertise, specialized facilities and professional services. The Directory can be found at http://erd.gpcc.com/

The Enterprise Center, Center for Culinary Enterprises, Philly Food Innovation Program received $15,000 to develop a technical workshop series for early to middle-stage food entrepreneurs. Topics included culinary math, food safety and labeling, and hospitality law. These workshops, which occurred in the summer 2013, were filmed and will be posted to The Enterprise Center website as well as available publically. A preview video is available at http://theenterprisecenter.com/philly-food-innovation-program/

PhillyCORE Leaders received $15,000 to support the Supporting Entrepreneurship in Education (SEED) program, which included a pitch event for education entrepreneurs to compete for funding held in October 2013. The nonprofit 12+ received a $5,000 grant to open a college prep center at Penn Treaty High School. Teacher Trey Smith received a $2,500 grant to launch the Philadelphia Engineering/Math Challenge. To develop their ideas further, both winning teams currently attend the Fels Institute Social Innovations Lab.

Startup Corps received $20,000 to support the expansion of a high school entrepreneur program that provides programming to a diverse range of teenagers looking to develop entrepreneurial skills and build businesses. Startup Corps is currently accepting applications for its spring afterschool program serving students aged 13-18. http://www.startupcorps.org/#programs